Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez phoned Syria’s Bashar Assad to pledge his support in the face of “fascist conspiracies” and “imperialist aggressions”—seemingly a little confused as to who the fascists are.
Gun battles erupted across the capital of Yemen as security forces clashed with fighters from the country’s most powerful tribe, in the fiercest battles yet between supporters and opponents of President Saleh.
Bahrain’s national appeal court unanimously upheld death sentences for two men convicted of killing police officers during anti-government protests in March. The court reduced the death sentences of two others to life in prison.
Thousands took to the streets across Syria for Friday protests, and security forces again responded with tear gas and live ammunition, leaving at least 32 dead. Protesters dubbed Friday “Azadi Day,” for the Kurdish word for freedom.
Saif al-Adel, an Egyptian ex-military officer who helped establish the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, has reportedly been named as al-Qaeda’s interim leader as the organization awaits a formal successor to Osama bin Laden.
At least two were killed and some 70 injured as presumed Salafists attacked Coptic protesters outside the state television building in Cairo with sticks, firearms and Molotov cocktails.
Thousands of Egyptians filled Cairo’s Tahrir Square in a Friday rally for national unity and solidarity with the Palestinians. The “Unity Rally” was called following deadly clashes between Muslims and Christians.
Security forces fired on protesters across both Syria and Yemen, leaving several dead, while in Bahrain the government is bulldozing dozens of mosques in Shi’ite villages as part of a crackdown on Shi’ite-led protests.
The US threatened to take unspecified “additional steps” in response to the continued repression in Syria as at least 27 were reported dead in Friday protests around the country.
As US drone attacks killed two members of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), protesters gathered in Yemen’s capital to release hundreds of balloons reading “Leave, Ali”—meaning President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Hundreds of Syrian soldiers stormed the Damascus suburb of Saqba and rounded up residents, witnesses said. Syrian activists say at least 1,000 people have been arrested across the country over the past week.
The lack of angry protests over the killing of Osama bin Laden indicates how al-Qaeda has been left behind by the Arab Spring. Only those who fetishize Osama because he fetishized America could fail to get it.
